Personalised Number Plate Information

Number Plates

Number Plates

Each number plate has 1, 2 or 3 letters and one or more numbers. Number plates listed here have recently been sold but we have many similar numbers. Please call us or visit our main number plate website

Number plate results shown. If you want to go to our main website you can use our reg plate search facility.

Regplates have over 99% of all available number plates available to buy online 24 hours a day. We are members of MIRAD, APRT & CNG trade dealers associations.

All number plates are transferred in accordance with the DVLA.

.

Number Plates Recently Sold Search - JOV registrations

Our team of trained personalised number plate staff will professionally handle your transfer as swiftly as possible with all paperwork change over handled for you including the V5, tax disc and MOT certificate. We offer advice without technical 'jargon', and are always competitive on price.

If you are looking to sell a private plate, our personalised registration plates valuations department can give you an accurate market value on your registration number by post or by e-mail.

Personalised Cherished Number Plates

Since their humble beginning in 1903, cherished numbers have continued to increase in popularity often adding the finishing touch to our prized possessions and very often prove to be a valuable investment.

The First Number Plate Ever Issued

A1 assigned in 1903

The Motor Car Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all motor vehicles to be entered on an official vehicle register, and to carry number plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could be easily traced in the event of an accident or contravention of the law. Vehicle registration number plates in the UK are rectangular or square in shape, with the exact permitted dimensions of the plate and its lettering set down in law.

In fact, when the DVLA issues a car’s registration plate, they actually follow a very distinct system.

While it may look like a random combination, a number plate can actually tell you how old the car is and where it was registered.

A new format for registrations was introduced in September 2001, meaning all cars registered after that date would have their number plate made up of three parts.

How to tell where the car is from

The first section of a number plate is the local memory tag – the first two letters of the plate.

This identifies where the vehicle was registered, and is itself broken down into two parts.

The first letter stands for the local area, for example E denotes Essex, while L stands for London.

The plate’s second letter then identifies at which DVLA office in that area the registration took place – multiple letters can signify the same DVLA office.

How anyone can tell how old your car is just by looking at it

The two numbers in the middle of your plate identify how old the car is.

The DVLA issues two lots of number plate combinations each year on March and September 1st.

All plates issued between the 1 March and the end of August will use the same two numbers as the year they are registered.

For example, a car registered in May 2017 would have “17”.

Vehicles registered between September 1 and the end of February the following year, use a similar pattern of higher numbers.

When the format changed in 2001, this group of vehicles were identified differently by starting the labelling from “51” rather than “01”.

Therefore this second lot of numbers will always be 50 plus the year the car was registered – so after 2010, the number starts with a 6.

For example, a vehicle registered in December 2009 will show “59” on its plate but December 2011 will be “61”.

Is any of the plate random?

The final three letters of the number plate tend to be a random combination that make the registration unique.

But it’s not uncommon for cars with neighbouring letter sequences to be from the same manufacturer, due to batch allocation of new registrations to dealers by the DVLA.

The letters “Q” and “I” are excluded from the random sequence, along with any phrases that are deemed offensive.

Using the current scheme, there will be a sufficient combinations to last until the end of February 2051.

What about registrations before September 2001?

From 1983 onward, licence plates used a leading single letter to represent the year of first registration.

The letter “A” was used in 1983, progressing through the alphabet, finishing with “Y” at the end of August 2001.

The rest of the characters on the plate were random.

Prior to 1983, the same system was used, but with the year letter at the end of the plate rather than the beginning.

A PETITION against a police chief's decision to sell the first number plate issued to the county has gathered over 850 signatures.

Retired police constable Alan Matthews started the online petition after he found out that the 'AB 1' licence plate was up for auction.

Police enthusiasts have lambasted the decision to sell the plate, which has traditionally been used on the staff cars of Worcestershire's Chief Constables.

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) John Campion claims the sale will enable him to invest in frontline policing.

Mr Matthews, aged 69, who worked for West Mercia Police from 1985 to 1994, said: "It's a piece of police heritage that shouldn't be sold off.

"It was the original number that the chief had. I just think that there's other ways the PCC could save money.

"I'm getting quire ratty about it. When you have been in the police you see how much waste there is.

"It's a sad thing that people in the UK have so much history but don't think much of it."

Jon Cherry, the director of regplates.com, thinks the plate will sell for between £225,000 and £275,000.

He said: "We have sold similar plates recently at this level and the market for high quality original issue number 1 plates is very strong.

"The buyers of these are intent on having only the best and only this plate will suffice!"

Mr Campion said his priority is use the assets at his disposal to make West Mercia a safe place.

"The prospect of a chief constable or any public servant using a private number plate belongs in a time gone by, both for security reasons and public expectation," he said.

"Therefore a considered decision has been made to market ‘AB 1’ and any sale proceeds will be reinvested towards frontline policing in West Mercia."

He acknowledged the history behind the plate but said it had not been used for around six years.

A spokesman for Mr Campion said he was not selling anything else apart from the number plate.

Vehicle registration was introduced in 1903 and it is believed 'AB 1' was first issued to Worcestershire's Chief Constable Herbert Sutherland Walker in 1908.

Overseas territories

Some of the British overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, use similar number plates to the UK, with the same colours and typeface.

On average, the city RTOs earn close to Rs 12-14 crore annual revenue from the sale of special numbers. The number '1' can fetch a maximum of Rs 12 lakh if it is not available in the current running series and is purchased from a future series. A two-wheeler owner can buy the special number for Rs 1.5 lakh. At the Andheri RTO, large TV screens display information on VIP numbers.
The latest statistics show that Pune tops all RTOs when it comes to selling the special registration numbers, while Mumbai comes fifth.

While Pune RTO has sold 30,366 numbers and fetched a revenue of Rs 23.45 crore, this was followed by Nashik RTO where 27,545 VIP numbers were sold to citizens at a cost of Rs 19.59 crore. At Thane, as many as 10,744 special numbers were sold to fetch a revenue of Rs 9.98 crore while Kolhapur sold 10,611numbers for Rs 7.3 crore.
The craze for getting a VIP number began in the northern states," said an official. For example, in Punjab, there have been cases of farmers buying VIP numbers for lakhs of rupees in auction. In 2012, a Chandigarh businessman purchased registration number CH-01-AN-0001 for Rs 17 lakh. The number AK-47 is also popular in Punjab and sold for Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh almost every year.

On Saturday an Emirati businessman bought the distinctive Dubai car plate number AA10 after posting the winning bid of 3.12 million dirhams during the Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) 97th 'Open Plates Auction'.

Majid Mustafa, who has been participating in the RTA auctions since 2002, told the UAE-based publication that he will keep the AA10 number plate for his personal use and mount it on one of his numerous cars.

The RTA's year-end auction raised a total of 12.75 million dirhams this time around and saw nine other AA code plates, including 12, 50, 100, 333, 786, 1000, 8888, 11111, and 55555 going under the hammer.

Mustafa also said that he has owned a total of 5,000 special plates, many of which he already traded and gained profitable margins. At a price of 6 million dirhams, the most expensive plate he has ever acquired was I10.

During the auction on Saturday, the second most expensive plate went to Essa Al Habbai who bought AA12 for 2.72 million dirhams.

Another Emirati won the bidding for the third most expensive plate, AA50, priced at 1.84 million dirhams, while a 44-year-old Lebanese expat acquired AA11111 for 1.21 million dirhams.

"I will mount it on my Lamborghini..."
Another Emirati, 32-year-old businessman Jaber Khamis, won the number AA333 after bidding 700,000 dirhams for it.

"The plate (AA333) is really special. I will mount it on my Lamborghini but I might also sell it if I find the right buyer who will offer a really good price," Khamis told Khaleej Times.﻿
At the auction, RTA also unveiled a new design for Dubai number plates. It will feature the Dubai brand logo, and the letters and digits will be printed in black on white background.

In October, RTA already raised 25 million dirhams at the 'Open Plates Auction'.

"The number auctions organized by the RTA are characterized by transparency and enthusiasm. They measure up to the aspirations of customers who seek exclusivity in this regard. Such auctions suffice the needs and aspirations of number plate enthusiasts, and reflect RTA’s keenness to realize its third strategic goal of 'People Happiness'," said Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency at the time.

$30,000 for personalised plates? Tell him he's dreaming.

Gracemere man Chase Ferguson's "for sale" post attracted plenty of attention overnight, but probably not the kind he was after.

Ironically, the $30K price tag he's placed on a set of "no idea" personalised number plates has spurred a thread of witty remarks and memes, but few interested buyers.

It comes as the Rockhampton was found to have the second-highest number of personalised plates in the state, with 3644 residents pimping their rides.

The region sits next in line to the Sunshine Coast (5598), which trumps the regions of Mackay (3012); Gladstone (1072); Bundaberg (1072); Fraser Coast (766); Warwick (305) and Gympie (602).

While some are saying Chase's asking price is exorbitant, $30,000 is a bargain compared to some sellers who are asking up in the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars.

Rodney Gilchrist has taken up "dream" real estate on the personalised plate front, buying up DREAM1, DREAM2, DREAM3, DREAM4, DREAM5 and DREAM6 and re-selling for $300,000.

The number plates have been on the market for about 12 months, as the church pastor patiently waits for a cashed-up fleet manager to buy the plates.

Chase Ferguson has been contacted for comment.

If none of the above appeal to the rev head in you, here are some of the top-dollar plates up for grabs online:

HEART: The most expensive plates in the state, but the seller suggests a heart surgeon may have the $50,000 needed to snap them up.

Since the dvla introduced the bsau145d legislation it has been increasingly difficult for motorists to obtain number plates with anything other than legal spacing.

There is however another line of argument for the defence of the serial mis spacer. They say that a number plate that has been altered to make a word or a name is much more memorable in the event of an incident.They also argue that the dvla blatantly auction registration numbers that would be virtually worthless without mis spacing.

Trevor, or Stretch to his mates because he is "very tall”, is a mine worker who loves his car so much that his choice of numberplate had to reflect that passion.

The GT4EVA plates take pride of place on his XY GT Falcon.

"I just wanted to put some numberplates on it that stood out from the rest,” Trevor said.

He is one of 3644 Rockhampton region residents who in the past year have personalised their vehicle with unique numberplates.

The plates cost from $165 to $3300 and the region is home to a wide array of unique registrations including these beauties: OMG MUD, HIP100, L1VE1T, C1NDYS, SPUNKYB and FORD36.

For some people, personalised plates are like chips - you can't have just one.

And Trevor is a prime example of that.

He has MAC392 on his Mustang and he also has TKD11 (his initials and date of birth) on another vehicle and SRD12 on his partner's car.

"I just love them - it just makes your car different to everybody else's,” Trevor said.

Personalised Plates Queensland managing director Jemma Elder said more than 750,000 personalised plates had been issued.

Jemma said vehicle owners were happy to spend big on them because they were a "fun and creative way” to express themselves.

"A lot of people are very proud of their vehicles and it's a way for them to express themselves and their passion for their cars and to complement the look of their car,” she said.

While most people opt for letter and number combinations that will not offend, there are some motorists who like to choose plates that are not appropriate for our roads.

"We work very closely with the Department of Transport and Main Roads who provide very strict guidelines to adhere to,” Jemma said.

"We run every plate against the very strict assessment criteria to ensure they are clean and that they are appropriate for display.”

While PPQ sells the unique regos on more than 250 types of plates and designs, it's the DTMR that produces the finished plate.

Canberrans who want to show their support for marriage equality can now do so in a novel way - rainbow number plates.

Following the legalisation of same-sex marriage, the ACT government has announced it will bring into circulation number plates with a rainbow band instead of the traditional slogan.

The colourful plates will cost a one-off fee of $60 and regulatory services minster Gordon Ramsay said he expected demand for them to be high.

The fee covers the cost of production of the plate, and unlike the rainbow buses and roundabout, Mr Ramsay said there would be no extra cost to the ACT taxpayer.

ACT government to offer free marriage certificates for same-sex couples who wed when briefly legal in Canberra
Location chosen for Canberra's rainbow roundabout
"The government has been supportive all the way through of people's rights," Mr Ramsay said.

"We're the most welcoming and inclusive city and I want to make sure we continue to be able affirm that and celebrate that."

Three in four Canberrans voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in the recent postal survey, an "emphatic" result Chief Minister Andrew Barr said gave the government licence to make Canberra more "inclusive".

By submitting your email you are agreeing to Fairfax Media's terms and conditions and privacy policy.
Asked if the number plates could make cars a target given 26 per cent of the ACT voted against marriage equality, Mr Ramsay said he had "full confidence" Canberrans would respect the rights of others.

People can apply to have their existing 'Y' series plates remade with the rainbow design, although it will take about four weeks.

The government also announced on Friday it will waive $55 certificate fee for couples married previously under the ACT's Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 if they marry again.

Couples who previously registered a civil union under the Civil Union Act 2012 can also have their fee waived.

There are about 80 couples eligible in a move that is expected to cost the ACT government about $4400.

"All Canberrans, regardless of their sexuality, deserve a government that concentrates on health, education and all the other actual responsibilities of the ACT government," Mr Coe said.

MOTORISTS in the UK are still being targeted by new DVLA email, message and text message scams in Britain and here’s what to do if you are.

Criminals posing as the Driver Vehicle Licence Agency (DVLA) are still sending bogus messages to motorists, to attempt to maliciously acquire data or money from them.

These criminals are being exposed on Twitter now as motorists are savvily becoming wise to these messages.

DCI David Coleman, Deputy Director of Intelligence, Kent & Essex SCD tweeted a picture of a fake text he received.

The message read “We would like to notify you that you have an outstanding vehicle tax refund of GBP 220.50 from an overpayment, request refund dvlc.au1h.com.”

The DVLA has been explicit in the past about its policy regarding contacting customers.

It replied to a customers reporting another potential phishing scam saying “we're already aware of this scam and we are investigating.

“We advise drivers that we don't send texts that contain links. Please ignore it and don’t click on any link.”

On its website it reiterates how it will never contact a driver via text or email.

“We’re aware that some members of the public are receiving emails, texts and telephone calls claiming to be from DVLA.

“Links to a website mocked up to look like a DVLA online service are sometimes included in the message.

Number Plate Suppliers, do they have to be registered?

The short answer to the question is YES.

If you are buying a cherished plate through a registered (MIRAD) dealer who is also a registered number plate supplier (RNPS) with the DVLA then they can supply the plates for you.

Sales manager at Image Registrations Bruno Morris said if we are supplying the cherished number to the client and transferring it onto the vehicle for them then we already have established proof of ownership and identity during the transfer procedure. It saves the customer a lot of hassle by enabling us to supply the registration plates with the completed paperwork"."